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On Disciples: Forgiving George Bush And/Or the Church

On Disciples: Forgiving George Bush And/Or the Church

I ran across a website yesterday via Good Magazine called “Forgive George.” It’s not really surprising to see something like this, with the inauguration only a few weeks away, the end of Bush’s presidency is on every one’s mind (there are a number of “tribute” sites to Bush like this). This particular site promotes something [...]

Guest Post: Matthew Hoopes’ Top 5 Albums of the Year

Since he spends so much time immersed in music, I asked my good friend, and fellow Canton, Ohio native Matthew Hoopes of Relient K to share his top 5 Albums of 2008 with the gathering in light community. This is his first guest post here, and it’s a a pleasure to have him. Here’s what [...]

Dress-Down Friday | Happy First Birthday L Edition

This is a “Dress-Down Friday” in honor of our daughter L, who’s celebrating her first birthday today. I can’t believe it has been a year since the arrival of this wonderful gift from God. This past year has been incredible! Over the past year we’ve experienced the meaning of love and family in completely new [...]

Finishing Two Quarters with Everett Cattell

Image by Midnight-digital via Flickr

This past Friday I dropped my paper in an envelope, paid the $2.63 postage and sent it off to Elkhart, IN at 4 pm, an hour before the deadline. Leaving the post-office, I felt much lighter. Not only was a six-month weight off my shoulders, but the fifty-seven pages that resulted [...]

“Dear Woman, why do you involve me?” Mission Without Guarantees

In the fourth of his missiology lectures (see more on his third here) Steuernagel reflected on a few passages where we see Mary interacting with her son, Jesus. In John 2:3-5 it says:
“When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, [...]

How Quakers Voted in the 2008 Election

I’ve finally finished compiling the statistics from the poll we conducted here last week. When I initially posted the survey it hadn’t dawned on me that it would be me who had to compile all of the data as well! That took quite awhile, especially since Math and using Excel aren’t Wess Daniels specialities. [...]

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Newbie’s Guide to Seminary

Over the course of the last couple years I’ve done a number of posts on tips and tricks with regards to studying, using computers more efficiently, and productivity/organization. It’s not a main focus for my blog, but when I am inspired with an idea and I see a connection to the larger topics of this [...]

MacIntyre And Church Renewal

I came across this Alasdair MacIntyre quote not long ago and thought it was a fitting reflection for the much-discussed topic of church renewal. Part of MacIntyre’s point is to say that if a tradition is to overcome its own crisis of knowing, it will be through the revision of its narrative in light [...]

New Gathering In Light: 3rd Edition

Three years ago I bought gatheringinlight.com and started hosting my own website and blog. It was an attempt to establish more of a presence online, work on my writing, and try to make connections with other people interested in the same kinds of questions I am. Over the course of the last few years all [...]

Reclaiming the Power of Primitive Quakerism for the 21st Century

Robin, Martin and I are leading a weekend retreat at the Ben Lomond Quaker Retreat Center this coming February on convergent Friends, we’ve humbly titled, Reclaiming the Power of Primitive Quakerism for the 21st Century. I’m looking forward to taking an entire weekend to focus on building community, worshipping together, and listening (to others and the Holy Spirit), discerning [...]

The Unlikely Hero of Psalm 85:1-2

Image via Wikipedia

“LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin.” (Psalms 85:1-2 NRSV)  
Jacob wasn’t exactly a hero in the biblical narrative, at least when you look at even a cursory review of his “adventures” leave him to be [...]

Upcoming Blogging Hiatus

I’ve decided I need a little break from the blog these last couple weeks of the quarter. I’m currently working on my 40+ page paper on Everett Cattell’s life and contribution to Quaker missiology and I need to clear everything else of my desk. The paper is due on December 12th, so until that time [...]